Discuss: Voeckler or Gilbert?

By winning Stage 4 and the overall title at last weeks 4 Days of Dunkirk, Thomas Voeckler took his seventh and eighth wins of the season–giving him one more than Philippe Gilbert*. This got me thinking: is Voeckler better? More exciting? None or both of the above? How do you think he would fare were he to race the same program as the Belgian superstar?

Discuss.

*Interestingly, Voeckler’s not the most successful rider thus far this season. Can you find out who it is without resorting to a results database?

About Whit

My experiences might easily fit many cycling fans' definitions of “living the dream.” Since getting hooked on the sport watching Lance Armstrong win the 1993 U.S. Pro Championship, I've raced as an amateur on Belgian cobbles, traveled Europe to help build a European pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux. As a former assistant director sportif with Mercury-Viatel, I've also seen the less dreamy side of the sport – the side rife with broken contracts, infighting, and positive dope tests. These days, I live with my lovely wife in Pennsylvania and share my experiences and views on the sport at Bicycling Magazine, the Embrocation Cycling Journal, and at my own site, Pavé.

17 Responses to Discuss: Voeckler or Gilbert?

Voeckler wins with so little: Bernaudeau's modern re-incarnation has always been one of the weakest. He puts himself in lots and lots of breakaways. Not to take credit away from Gilbert of course, as Gilbert's wins are in far more competitive races. If anything else, we can compare Gilbert's FdJ version to today's Voeckler.

Wow, Guardini is a neo-pro with lots of wins already! Looks like Farnese-Vini has picked a great neo-pro to invest in for the next few seasons. Can't wait to see what he will do in the late summer Italian intra-murals races.

Voeckler has been doing a hell of a job this season. He is animating races and is awesome to watch. But Gilbert has had a far more successful season. Too many of Voeckler's wins have been have been at non-top races.

I feel like it could be said that Voeckler races against everybody else's domestiques. Not to take away from his level of winning, but I feel like if he was racing against Gilbert in the Ardennes, Gilbert still would have smashed the field.

Well of course no one wants to give the French any credit. Like for cleaning up their teams before anyone else after the Festina affair.
Voeckler is as aggressive as anyone and you could also make the argument he takes more risks than Gilbert. Yeah they're not "classics" wins but the guy has panache, you've got to give him that.

Gilbert is pure class. Tommy is a hard working and agressive rider. I like them both but Gilbert is at a much higher level. But then Voeckler does ride a Colnago and Gilbert has to ride a Canyon so Thomas has something over Phil.

Yes, I know there is no meaningful difference between any pro level bike (all built by the same old lady in Taiwan) but Canyons are hideous.

With all due respect to Voeckler, the races he's won have been low-hanging fruit and not nearly as impressive as Gilbert's rout in the Ardennes. That's pretty much what everyone else has offered in one way or another, but I think Voeckler has still had a great season in his own regard and has some solid wins to his credit.

Still, I don't see anyone asking if Voeckler can win all of the monuments, which has been discussed for Gilbert. Apparently you have to be Belgian to even be considered for that club.